During these months she has definitely become a full-fledged "toddler." She is growing up so fast, some of her adorable baby chub is starting to slim down, her neck is now visible, and she has started to grow into her head nicely.
The most surprising thing she has done the last two months is potty training! When she was 15 months old she found a little potty in the cabinet that I bought on clearance for $4 before she was born. She pulled it out and for whatever reason I decided to sit her on it. After a minute I said "That was fun practice huh?!" And picked her up. Much to my surprise...she pooped! I decided to try it again an hour later, and same thing, she peed! Two days later she was is officially in undies all day (even for naps) and typically only has 1 or 2 accidents a day (if any at all). I still can't believe I haven't changed a poopy diaper/undies in over a week! She is amazing.
Physically in other ways she is still quite delayed, but has been making great strides everyday. She is a master booty-scooter and has no trouble getting around that way. She loves exploring cabinets and opening/closing doors. Some people might want to keep their kids out of cabinets, but I love that she is interested in discovering her environment. I started to hide treasure baskets in some of the cabinets for her to discover. She loves it! She has definitely mastered rolling from back to front (still not able to roll front to back) and she can stand solidly while holding on to surfaces. She can hold on with one hand while playing and she can go from sitting on a low stool to standing on her own as well (holding on to furniture or us in front of her). She still can't stand on her own, cruise furniture, crawl, or walk while holding on to toys. She also can't really go from lying down to sitting up yet. She did, however, manage to go from lying on her belly to sitting up once yesterday for the first time ever! We are very excited about that, even though she did it by backing into a W sit (a huge no-no), at least she got herself up! Hopefully she will master that skill this month! Getting around has also given her a love for Sadie (her dog). She loves chasing her around the house and really wants Sadie to love her too. Sadie is still trying to pretend Makenna doesn't exist. Makenna loves feeding her food and will purposefully play with the Sophie the giraffe because she knows it will make Sadie come up to her.
Her fine motor skills have really taken off the last two months. We turned the small office off of our living room into a Montessori school room and it has been wonderful! Everyday Makenna and I "go to school" and I get to put my 10 years of Montessori experience and my teaching degree to good use! I never knew why I felt lead to become certified in special Ed, but now I know! I have a curriculum we follow each day and it has been fun teaching her and watching her learn. She loves learning. She can now put things in baskets and loves to clean up! Sometimes I will catch her putting her toys away (not in the correct location of course...think blocks inside cars and balls in the cloth diaper basket), but still impressive. She can also drop small beads into small openings (I.e water bottles), more or less use a spoon to feed herself (still prefers fingers!), and is really good at turning the pages in her books. She still loves books more than any toy and spends a good part of each day reading herself and being read to. We have books stashed at her level all over the house. She also loves playing with her flash cards and making music with her xylophone/piano.Speech wise she has really come a long way as well! She can say mom, mama, dada, hi, bye, no, go, walk
, duck, more, and banana. She has also repeated several of words such as lemon, yellow, red, Kenna, and Sadie, but they aren't a part of her vocabulary as of now. She still uses sign language for words such as more, all done, hi, bye, no, I don't know, want/give, and occasionally yes. She also knows the meaning of a lot of words she can't say, such as potty, night-night, dog, eat, nurse, outside, shirt, and shoes, and she knows how to signal when she wants certain things by pointing, such a certain toy, to nurse or to sleep. She knows to tap our backs or legs to get our attention and can identify "nose" and "ears" on other people. She can respond to a few simple commands such as "give it to me" "blow kisses" "clap your hands" and "put that in the basket." Best of all she is starting to make connections and transfer knowledge. For example I was reading a book that said "Monkeys drum" and she turned around and pointed to her monkey flash card when she heard the word. Another book said something about a shirt and she reached out and grabbed my shirt. Today she picked up the bird puzzle piece and I said "bird" and she turned and pointed to the sky out the window. Little things like that prove to me that she is understanding more than we may think sometimes. Another thing that tells me she understands more than we may think is the fact that she finds things that are out of place funny, such as socks on our hands or toys on our head. She also has a humor of her own. Anytime Rex says "Say Dada" she will say "mom." He says "no dada!" And she smiles and says "mom mom" they go back and forth....over and over and over again. She thinks it's a fun little game.
Another skill she has acquired these last two months is the ability to help us when she is getting dressed and undressed. She will stick her arms through the holes, lift her legs for pants, offer a foot for socks, and tilt her head down to make it easier to get the shirt off.When it comes to food she still has so many allergies that it makes feeding her rather tricky. She has also become a rather picky eater since the majority of foods she loved, she can no longer have. She also doesn't like foods that feel slimy or squishy, which eliminates most fruits and veggies. She is a huge fan of meat, quinoa, basmati rice, rice pasta, watermelon, and snap pea crisps. Not exactly the food of Champions, but we do our best to offer her a large variety of healthy, organic, fruits and veggies every day, even if she doesn't choose to eat them.
Quick medical update:We went to Shands for check ups with pediatric surgery and neurosurgery. Both said she was doing great. Neuro said she is still at risk of a shunt infection until September, but not to stress over that fact and Dr. Kays say her ASD hasn't fully resolved like they initially thought, but it is minor and not to worry about that either. She will get another echocardiogram at 3. Thankfully after 14 trips to Gainesville last year, we won't have nearly that many this year! We don't have to go back to Neuro until July and Peds. until October! Yay!
Other than that she is now on a "normal" pediatrician schedule (no more weekly appointments to measure her head--yay!!) and other than her monthly RSV shots we have been working hard to keep her healthy and out of doctor offices!
As for her head circumference it hasn't grown since September when she got her shunt! This is great news since it was increasing .5-1 centimeter a month. Her head will always be larger than other kids, but since it hasn't grown, she has started to grow into it. She is also still getting up between 9 and 15 times a night. We finally got the go-ahead from neurology and her pediatrician to begin gentle sleep training, so we have been working on that the last month.
Overall she is a remarkable little girl. Everyday she reminds me that miracle happen. A year ago we were worried because her MRI showed brain atrophy, cerebral edema, and significantly enlarged
Height: 31 inches
Weight: 21 pound 9 ouncesEyes: Brownish-green
Hair: Light brown, getting CURLY, and still long!
Clothes: Size 12 or 18 months
Diapers: In undies all day and cloth or size 4 at night!
Food: Still loving her mommy milk! She also likes noodles, turkey (most meat really), quinoa, rice, gnocchi, watermelon, and bread.
Sleep: Still getting up MANY times a night.
Shoes: Still fits size 2 shoes!
Favorites: Makenna loves Sadie, flash cards, books, cleaning, and her treasure boxes. Also loves exploring cabinets, going on walks, nursing, and playing outside.
